Prior to the present invention, even though there has been extensive need over the years for fire-entry suits for use in the fighting of oil fires, and for use in racing and in military vehicles, particularly in the testing of new aircraft and space vehicles, heretofore there has not been any adequate light-weight fire-entry suit having light-weight, thin suit-material and high flexibility characteristics in combination with long-term durability at very high temperatures. To understand the problems faced, it should be noted that there are lighter-weight "proximity suits"--a term of the trade, which proximity suits are intended for and utilizable solely for approaching high-temperature areas but not for exposure to flame(s) nor to radiant heat in excess of typically 1500 degrees Fahrenheit, nor to lower hot temperatures for extended periods of time. Even fire-entry suits presently commercially available embodying glass fabric, glass insulation, aluminized glass fabric and the like, is limited to fire entry and ambient temperatures up to 1500 degrees fahrenheit and has a weight of about 40 pounds(U.S.). The problems faced with a fire-entry suit include the preventing of heat transfer into the interior of the suit, as well as the prevention of deterioration of suit fabric too quickly when exposed to flame and/or radiation temperatures of more than 1500 degrees for one, two or more minutes continuously, and to continued contact of the person with the interior of the suit after the suited person's withdrawal from the area of heat or flame. The flame-entry suit as well as the proximity suit both have back-interior space for location of an air or oxygen-breathing apparatus worn normally and typically conventionally with such suits. Accordingly, the solution is not merely having a material resistant to fire or to heat--for example mere asbestos fiber being readily resistant to both heat and flame, and likewise glass fibers being resistant to flame and heat. The further problem is to achieve resistance to heat transfer in the absence of a bulky and/or heavy and/or cumbersome suit.
These problems become even more pronounced when it becomes necessary to wear normal clothing over such a suit, and when it is important for the wearer to appear as a normal suit-less person ingulfed in fire, as is the case in use of movie and television stunt men who must appear to be dressed in merely street-clothing during a burn-scene filming. There cannot be excessive bulk nor excessive weight to the suit, together with the necessity for a protection against both flame and high temperature heat, and the need for the actor to maintain a high level of manual dexterity by virtue of the limber nature of the fire-entry suit. Desirably such suit would have a weight substantially below and normally not exceeding forthy pounds, while also achieving the flexibility of a high degree and together with the achieving of a protection against both flame and high temperature heat well in excess of 1500 degrees Fahrenheit or about (in excess of) 1000 degrees Centigrade.